US Women’s Soccer Names Tom Sermanni New Head Coach

By: Leslie Dobbins

October 31 2012 1:59 PM

With Pia Sundhage’s departure from the helm of the U.S. Women’s soccer team, the organization has settled on a replacement, naming Australian national team coach Tom Sermanni to fill the vacancy beginning Jan. 1, the LA Times reports.

Sermanni, 58, led Australia to three World Cups in his 11 years (1994, 1997, 2004-2012) as head coach, and he competed as midfielder for 14 seasons in his native Scotland, England, Australia, and New Zealand.

“I’m honored to have this opportunity to work with tremendous players and in a program that has had such a tradition of success,” Sermanni said in a statement. “U.S. Soccer has always been at the forefront of supporting the women’s game and it’s exciting to coach the team in this next chapter of its history.”

“He has a tremendous passion for the game, knows the American players, understands our system and knows the process of preparing a team for a World Cup tournament,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati.

Sundhage, landed the head coaching job back in 2007, and in the last 5 years she has lead the team to two Olympic Gold medals (Beijing and UK), a second place finish behind Japan to claim silver in the 2011 World Cup, and a 91-10-6 record (.897 win percentage) in 107 international contests. She resigned in August and plans to return to Sweden to coach her home country’s national team.